Page 27 - Test 1 The tennis club - Copy –Kopi_Neat

footsteps. His every move shadowed his father’s towering presence, every choice
scrutinized for its alignment with the family’s legacy. The brief affair that resulted in
Phoebe was, in many ways, his only act of impulsive defiance—though even that felt
unintentional now, more like a momentary lapse than a true rebellion.

Now, years later, Edward stood aboard the boat, watching as Phoebe—a grown woman
herself—gently held little Naja in her arms. At just one year old, Naja was a picture of
innocence, her soft cheeks flushed from the light breeze, her tiny hands clutching at
Phoebe’s blouse for balance. She was the loveliest little girl imaginable, with her dark,
curious eyes that seemed to take in everything around her, even if she couldn’t yet
understand it all.

Victoria, ever the perfectionist, made a comment—something lighthearted, though with an

edge of control—to Phoebe, who smiled politely in return. Phoebe’s gaze, however,
lingered on the harbor, where the boats swayed gently in the breeze. Her face betrayed
nothing, but Edward could sense her thoughts, or perhaps he only imagined them.

What did she see when she looked at him now? A father she barely knew? A man who had
failed to be there for her in the moments that mattered most? Or perhaps, she simply saw

the boats, the reflection of the sun on the water, and the child in her arms—a new
beginning, a chance for something better.

Edward’s chest tightened as he watched them. He had spent years compartmentalizing his
life, separating Phoebe’s existence from the carefully curated image of his family. But here
they all were, together on this boat. Phoebe, Victoria, little Naja—it was an odd tableau, an
incomplete puzzle he had never quite figured out how to piece together.

For all his planning, all his precision in business and life, Edward now felt unprepared. The

weight of his decisions, his failings, pressed against him as he looked at Phoebe. She
deserved more from him, but he wasn’t sure he had it in him to give.